


be silent, old heart

by couriervictor



Series: Cold, Cold Heart [1]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 17:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16999296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/couriervictor/pseuds/couriervictor
Summary: Odd little interactions in the lonely desert.





	be silent, old heart

**Author's Note:**

> just a short thought to get out.

Oh, how the sands threatened to tear him apart, piece by piece, until there was nothing left.  How the howling wind was deafening in his ears, the cry of old ghosts, the flight of warheads in storm-torn skies.  How he wished he didn’t have to  _ feel _ , because feeling was torturous; it was so much easier to kill, and kill more, and keep killing. 

_ Pile body upon body.   _ Vulpes’ own words.  Daniel woke up then, his throat still raw and painful with the sensation of choking.

But, at least, the night was dim and quiet, and slowly, the howling in his ears died down to the gentle sound of crickets and distance potshots of gunfire.  Vulpes was awake, as expected, humming softly to himself - this was something rare, reserved only for these quiet, lonely nights out in the desert, far from the burning gaze of the rest of the Legion.  At the start, Daniel would never have believed a man like Vulpes capable of vulnerability, but then, even now he still didn’t quite trust it. Vulnerable with Vulpes was more the calm before the storm, or perhaps the eye within it.  Men like that had something within them that dissuaded even the notion of softness.

“Perhaps you would sleep better would you not drink so much,” Vulpes said quietly.  Though sudden, the words didn’t startle. He was, true to his namesake, a wild and silent shadow deep in the night.

“Wouldn’t sleep at  _ all  _ if I didn’t drink,” Daniel managed to grumble by way of reply.  Abandoning the thought of more sleep, he sat upright and tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes.  Vulpes sat slowly and methodically sharpening a knife on an old stone; each movement was so precise, so  _ controlled _ , and nothing like the violently fevered spear techniques of his old tribe.  Why did he think of that now?

“A shame.”  Vulpes looked up at him with sharp eyes, and Daniel couldn’t tell if there was venom in them or not.  “Why do you think Lord Caesar shuns the use of such things? It dulls the senses and weakens the mind.  I would think you smarter than to rely on it.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

Vulpes threw him an odd smirk and returned to his work, letting silence fall back over them once more.  To the monotonous sound of the knife scraping the stone, Daniel lit a cigarette and watched the smoke trail against the stars as it calmed the nerves building in his chest.  This wasn’t particularly the direction he’d expected his life to go, but then, what alternative was there?

“Do you really believe it?” he asked suddenly, looking at Vulpes.  “Caesar’s ideals, I mean."

The question was, for once, enough to keep Vulpes silent for several moments.  Slowly, he lowered his tools and huffed, averting his gaze, north, toward the lights of Vegas.  

“I think you know the answer to that.”  Vulpes’ voice had a tone that was both cold, and yet gently bemused.  “I have learned that idealism is tenacious, but rarely lasts. Take that as you will.  And sleep, for we have much to do come morning.”

It was as much of a silencing word as Daniel had ever heard, and Vulpes, seemingly content with the answer he’d given, was already resuming his previous task.  Daniel sighed and snuffed his cigarette out on the ground and laid down again, closing his eyes against the moonlight. Sleep didn’t find him so easily, but after a while, Vulpes’ humming grew closer, and he could sense the other man’s presence next to his side.

He’d almost rather have the storms of the Divide, but this was pleasant enough, wasn’t it?

What a world.


End file.
